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At least 1,135 records · Page 63

Pressure distributions from high Reynolds number transonic tests of an NACA 0012 airfoil in the Langley 0.3-meter transonic cryogenic tunnel

Tests were conducted in the 2-D test section of the Langley 0.3-meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel on a NACA 0012 airfoil to obtain aerodynamic data as a part of the Advanced Technology Airfoil Test (ATAT) program. The test program covered a Mach number range of 0.30 to 0.82 and a Reynolds number range of 3.0 to 45.0 x 10 to the 6th power. The stagnation pressure was varied between 1.2 and 6.0 atmospheres and the stagnation temperature was varied between 300 K and 90 K to obtain these test conditions. Tabulated pressure distributions and integrated force and moment coefficients are presented as well as plots of the surface pressure distributions. The data are presented uncorrected for wall interference effects and without analysis.

Ladson, Charles L.↗

An application of active surface heating for augmenting lift and reducing drag of an airfoil

Application of active control to separated flow on the RC(6)-08 airfoil at high angle of attack by localized surface heating is numerically simulated by integrating the compressible 2-D nonlinear Navier-Stokes equation solver. Active control is simulated by local modification of the temperature boundary condition over a narrow strip of the upper surface of the airfoil. Both mean and perturbed profiles are favorably altered when excited with the same natural frequency of the shear layer by moderate surface heating for both laminar and turbulent separation. The shear layer is found to be very sensitive to localized surface heating in the vicinity of the separation point. The excitation field at the surface sufficiently altered both the local as well as the global circulation to cause a significant increase in lift and reduction in drag.

Maestrello, Lucio↗

High Reynolds number transonic tests on a NACA 0012 airfoil in the Langley 0.3-meter transonic cryogenic tunnel

Tests were conducted in the two-dimensional test section of the Langley 0.3-m Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel on a NACA 0012 airfoil to obtain aerodynamic data as a part of the Advanced Technology Airfoil Test (ATAT) program. The test program covered a Mach number range of 0.30 to 0.82 and a Reynolds number range of 3.0 to 45.0 x 10 to the 6th. The stagnation pressure was varied between 1.2 and 6.0 atmospheres and the stagnation temperature was varied between 300 K and 90 K to obtain these test conditions. Plots of the spanwise variation of drag coefficient as a function of normal force coefficient and the variation of the basic aerodynamic characteristics with angle of attack are shown. The data are presented uncorrected for wall interference effects and without analysis.

Ladson, Charles L.↗

Development of drive mechanism for an oscillating airfoil

The design and development of an in-draft wind tunnel test section which will be used to study the dynamic stall of airfoils oscillating in pitch is described. The hardware developed comprises a spanned airfoil between schleiren windows, a four bar linkage, flywheels, a drive system and a test section structure.

Sticht, Clifford D.↗

Nonlinear structural analysis of a turbine airfoil using the Walker viscoplastic material model for B1900 + Hf

A viscoplastic material model for the high temperature turbine airfoil material B1900 + Hf was developed and was demonstrated in a three dimensional finite element analysis of a typical turbine airfoil. The demonstration problem is a simulated flight cycle and includes the appropriate transient thermal and mechanical loads typically experienced by these components. The Walker viscoplastic material model was shown to be efficient, stable and easily used. The demonstration is summarized and the performance of the material model is evaluated.

Meyer, T. G.↗

Computational fluid dynamics drag prediction: Results from the Viscous Transonic Airfoil Workshop

Results from the Viscous Transonic Airfoil Workshop are compared with each other and with experimental data. Test cases used include attached and separated transonic flows for the NACA 0012 airfoil. A total of 23 sets of numerical results from 15 different author groups are included. The numerical method used vary widely and include: 16 Navier-Stokes methods, 2 Euler boundary layer methods, and 5 potential boundary layer methods. The results indicate a high degree of sophistication among the numerical methods with generally good agreement between the various computed and experimental results for attached or moderately separated cases. The agreement for cases with larger separation is only fair and suggests additional work is required in this area.

Holst, Terry L.↗

In-flight measurement of ice growth on an airfoil using an array of ultrasonic transducers

Results of preliminary tests to measure ice growth on an airfoil during flight icing conditions are presented. Ultrasonic pulse echo measurements of ice thickness are obtained from an array of eight ultrasonic transducers mounted flush with the leading edge of the airfoil. These thickness measurements are used to document the evolution of the ice shape during the encounter in the form of successive ice profiles. Results from 3 research flights are presented and discussed. The accuracy of the ultrasonic measurements is found to be within 0.5 mm of mechanical and stereo photograph measurements of the ice accretion.

Hansman, R. John, Jr.↗

Investigation of viscous/inviscid interaction in transonic flow over airfoils with suction

The viscous/inviscid interaction over transonic airfoils with and without suction is studied. The streamline angle at the edge of the boundary layer is used to couple the viscous and inviscid flows. The potential flow equations are solved for the inviscid flow field. In the shock region, the Euler equations are solved using the method of integral relations. For this, the potential flow solution is used as the initial and boundary conditions. An integral method is used to solve the laminar boundary-layer equations. Since both methods are integral methods, a continuous interaction is allowed between the outer inviscid flow region and the inner viscous flow region. To avoid the Goldstein singularity near the separation point the laminar boundary-layer equations are derived in an inverse form to obtain solution for the flows with small separations. The displacement thickness distribution is specified instead of the usual pressure distribution to solve the boundry-layer equations. The Euler equations are solved for the inviscid flow using the finite volume technique and the coupling is achieved by a surface transpiration model. A method is developed to apply a minimum amount of suction that is required to have an attached flow on the airfoil. The turbulent boundary layer equations are derived using the bi-logarithmic wall law for mass transfer. The results are found to be in good agreement with available experimental data and with the results of other computational methods.

Vemuru, C. S.↗

A smoke-wire study of low Reynolds number flow over a NASA LRN(1) - 1007 airfoil section

Smoke-filament visualization photographs are presented for two-dimensional flow over a NASA LRN(1) - 1007 airfoil section designed specifically for high-efficiency operation at low chord Reynolds numbers. Results are included for chord Reynolds numbers of 60,000, 100,000, and 220,000 and for angles of attack ranging from 0 to 16 degrees. Two kinds of laminar separation bubble are found to develop in the flow over the airfoil. The sites and characteristics of formation of these bubbles are described, and their dimensional properties are estimated. The transition-to-turbulence Reynolds numbers, surface pressure coefficient distributions, and lift coefficients deduced from the measured coefficients are compared with those obtained by other authors.

Fisher, S. S.↗

A fast approach to designing airfoils from given pressure distribution in compressible flows

A new inverse method for aerodynamic design of airfols is presented for subcritical flows. The pressure distribution in this method can be prescribed as a function of the arc length of the as-yet unknown body. This inverse problem is shown to be mathematically equivalent to solving only one nonlinear boundary value problem subject to known Dirichlet data on the boundary. The solution to this problem determines the airfoil, the freestream Mach number, and the upstream flow direction. The existence of a solution to a given pressure distribution is discussed. The method is easy to implement and extremely efficient. A series of results for which comparisons are made with the known airfoils is presented.

Daripa, Prabir↗

Effect of acoustic excitation on the flow over a low-Re airfoil

Wind-tunnel measurements of lift, drag, and wake velocity spectra were carried out under (tonal) acoustic excitation for a smooth airfoil in the chord-Reynolds-number Re(c) range of 40,000-140,000. The data were supported by smoke-wire flow-visualization pictures. Small-amplitude excitation in a wide, low-frequency range is found to eliminate laminar separation that otherwise degrades the airfoil performance at low Re(c) near the design angle of attack. Excitation at high frequencies eliminates a prestall, periodic shedding of large-scale vortices. Significant improvement in lift is also achieved during poststall, but with large-amplitude excitation. Wind-tunnel resonances strongly influence the results, especially in cases requiring large amplitudes.

Zaman, K. B. M. Q.↗

A parametric study of mean loading effects on airfoil gust interaction noise

The influence of airfoil mean loading parameters on the sound generated by interaction with short wavelength vorticity and entropy gusts is examined. It is found that there are two mean flow parameters of importance, the effective leading edge incidence angle and the airfoil lift coefficient. The former controls the total sound power level, while the latter has an important effect on the directivity pattern. For vorticity gusts, positive gust angles result in noise levels which increase with leading edge loading (LEL), while for negative gust angles an increase in LEL may actually reduce the noise level. For low levels of LEL, entropy gusts generate less sound than vorticity gusts, while for larger values of LEL, entropy gusts are at least as important as vorticity gusts.

Kerschen, E. J.↗

The development of a facility for full-scale testing of airfoil performance in simulated rain

NASA Langley's Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility has been adapted in order to test the performance of airfoils in a simulated rain environment, at rainfall rates of 2, 10, 30, and 40 inches/hour, and thereby derive the scaling laws associated with simulated rain in wind tunnel testing. A full-scale prototype of the rain-generation system has been constructed and tested for suitable rain intensity, uniformity, effects of crosswinds on uniformity, and drop size range. The results of a wind tunnel test aimed at ascertaining the minimum length of the simulated rain field required to yield an airfoil performance change due to the rain environment are presented.

Taylor, John T.↗

Some numerical and physical aspects of unsteady Navier-Stokes computations over airfoils using dynamic meshes

An upwind-biased implicit approximate factorization algorithm is applied to several unsteady flows on dynamic meshes. The thin-layer form of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations is used to solve both laminar and turbulent flows over airfoils pitching about the quarter chord. Numerical aspects of the solutions are investigated, including grid and time step effects. Two methods for determining fluxes - flux-vector splitting and flux-difference splitting - are compared. Flux-difference splitting predicts results more accurately than flux-vector splitting on a coarse mesh, but both methods agree on a fine mesh. Physical aspects of the computations are also examined. An equilibrium turbulent boundary layer model computes generally better unsteady results in comparison with experiment than a nonequilibrium model for the transonic case analyzed. Also, the size and location of the primary shed vortex for an airfoil pitching up at a constant rate is calculated in good agreement with experiment for two pitch rates.

Rumsey, Christopher L.↗

A scalar/vector potential formulation of an airfoil in nonuniform stream

A recent innovation in aerodynamic calculation techniques is the formulation based upon scalar and vector potentials (Stokes-Helmholtz decomposition) for the velocity field. This technique is presented: an implementation involving classical panel method is studied. The application of interest is to two-dimensional airfoils moving into a nonuniform approach flow. Comparisons with theoretical and numerical results are included. Furthermore the variations of lift and moment coefficients of quasi-steady simulated flight of an airfoil through microburst wind shear data are studied.

Wang, J. C. A.↗

Performance characteristics from wind-tunnel tests of a low-Reynolds-number airfoil

Wind tunnel lift and pitching-moment data have been obtained from pressure measurements, and drag data from wake surveys, for an Eppler 387 low Reynolds number airfoil over the Re range of 60,000 to 460,000; oil flow visualizations were also used to determine laminar separation and turbulent reattachment locations. Airfoil performance is found to be dominated by laminar separation bubbles below Re 200,000, and two flow regimes, namely laminar separations with and without turbulent reattachment, were observed at the same angle-of-attack for an Re of 60,000.

Mcghee, Robert J.↗

Design of transonic airfoils and wings using a hybrid design algorithm

A method has been developed for designing airfoils and wings at transonic speeds. It utilizes a hybrid design algorithm in an iterative predictor/corrector approach, alternating between analysis code and a design module. This method has been successfully applied to a variety of airfoil and wing design problems, including both transport and highly-swept fighter wing configurations. An efficient approach to viscous airfoild design and the effect of including static aeroelastic deflections in the wing design process are also illustrated.

Campbell, Richard L.↗

Design of low Reynolds number airfoils. I

The low Reynolds number airfoils designated ASM-LRN-003 and -007 have been designed for high section L/D ratios using Drela's (1985) design-and-analysis code; close to 70-percent laminar flow is maintained on the upper surfaces, and 100-percent on the lower, at coefficients of lift of 1.0-1.3, assuming optimum laminar separation and transition control on the upper surface by means of suitable turbulators. If peak performance is critical, airfoils of this type with an undercut front lower surface and a correspondingly sharper leading edge may be resorted to.

Pfenninger, W.↗